I heard an interesting point on Shabbos and it struck me as relevant to a number of issues the frum world has been fighting about in recent months, and I took it a step further.
Up until 100 years ago, most people in religious communities (not just, but let's only talk about them) were not educated. The men weren't so educated, with exceptions, as they had to go out to work at an early age, and the women were completely uneducated, also with exception, though rarer.
About 100 years ago Sara Shnerir revolutionized the religious world by starting schools for girls in Poland - the Beis Yaakov school network. With time, it became more and more standard, and today girls and women are extremely educated, often more than their male counterparts, in both general studies and Jewish studies.
So, we have educated our daughters. They are more studious and diligent than ever before. they deal with spirituality, they go to seminary, they study Jewish studies from nursery school until at least into their 20s and then continue to go to shiurim and lectures throughout their life. We increasingly demand and expect more of them, both academically and spiritually.
Yet, somehow, we are surprised, shocked, and some even angered, when we find some of these women demanding to take on more.
If a man would do so, if after studying for years he would accept upon himself more customs and stringencies he is not obligated in, we would be impressed, we would praise him, we would encourage him. Somehow, when a woman does precisely that, we are surprised, upset, disturbed, and agitated.
Women putting on tallit and tefillin, learning daf yomi, making minyanim, is perhaps the natural result of all the education that women have today, that they never had before. We should not be surprised or shocked when they decide to take on more than they are obligated to. The community teaches them, encourages them, to do more and more, just like the men to a certain extent, and naturally some will take it even further.
I am willing to bet that Sara Shnerir never expected this to be the result of the education she decided to provide for bnos yisrael in Eastern Europe, but it is, even though it took a long time to get to this point.
I don't know if it is bad or good, but it should definitely not be surprising or upsetting.
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